Articles

• Rothwell, DR

Abstract

The 1991 Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty has created for the first time an integrated environmental protection regime in Antarctica. Negotiated at a time when there was considerable debate over whether mining should be permitted in Antarctica and not long after the Treaty parties had concluded negotiations for a specific Antarctic minerals regime, its entry into force in 1998 is a testament to the international goodwill to cooperatively manage Antarctica and the robustness of the Antarctic Treaty system. The Protocol is also another milestone in the international management of Antarctica and generally for international environmental law. While the 1959 Antarctic Treaty initially sought to neutralise sovereignty and promote scientific cooperation, increasingly an environmental focus in Antarctic management has begun to prevail. The result is a comprehensive environmental law regime which increasingly controls all activities undertaken on the continent and the surrounding Southern Ocean. Antarctica is a unique model for development and implementation of international environmental law with successes often replicated in other global or regional law instruments. This permits some important lessons to be drawn from the Antarctic experience for the development of international environmental law and treaty-making generally.